The Barista (concept)
by Exterminatus Extremis
Summary: A concept chapter for a fic I might write if I decide I have enough ideas for it. Otherwise, a standalone one-shot. He was starting to drift into that half-state between consciousness and a decided lack thereof when the door burst open and something red and black zipped through the corner of his vision. He blinked and stood up to peer over the counter. "Uh...can I help you?"


**The Barista**

The night shift sucked. The night shift really, really sucked.

Six excruciating work hours from 7:30 to 2:00 with a half hour for a dinner break, and in this time of year, between semesters, it was a dead zone. It gave him plenty of time to do classwork, but that would require that he have any. And a man can only do so much before the work runs out or sleep takes over.

He had forgotten his customary book in his rush to get to The Beanstalk Cafe, the little coffee shop he worked at. So it was that Hei Kiiro found himself playing with milk foam, trying to create cool designs or even just pictures in the cold coffee in front of him. The clock read 12:20, which really meant 12:43. One day, the manager would get around to replacing the batteries. Or one of the baristas would snap and do it for him. For today, it merely meant that he was almost done.

He was starting to drift into that half-state between consciousness and a decided lack thereof when the door burst open and something red zipped through the corner of his vision. He blinked and stood up to peer over the counter.

"Uh…can I help you?" He started with a suppressed yawn.

The barrage of words that fired back at him was too much for his addled brain to comprehend. He held his hands up in a calming gesture.

"Sorry, I didn't catch that. Could you say it again?" _And slowly, please._ Another string of word-like noises sounded from the little red and black blur in front of him. _Where are my…?_

As though sensing his question, the fuzzy shape reached up to his head and pulled his glasses down off of it to hand to him. They revealed a little girl with dark, red-brunette hair and enormous, silver eyes.

Who had an immense gun strapped to the small of her back beneath a bright red cloak.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Money's in the register, I don't want any trouble. I can make you a coffee too, if you'd –" Hei never finished his sentence as the little girl palmed her face and groaned.

"I'm not here to rob you. Seriously, why does everyone think that?" She looked at his skyward arms and panicked expression, then noticed that his eyes were still glued to Crescent Rose. She coughed. "Ok, there is that. Medium dark roast, cream and five sugars, please?" She finished sweetly.

Hei finally took his eyes off the giant weapon long enough to see an equally giant smile on the girl's face. _Well_, _aren't you just a great big ball of adorable. Or you would be if you weren't carrying a cannon on your back. How does she even lift that thing? And why does she have it? She's too young to be a Huntress and oh wait, she just asked for coffee, didn't she? Focus, __Hei__._

"Sure," he lamely squeaked out. He went about preparing it, all the while glancing nervously at the armed girl. She just kept smiling at him and fidgeting with one of the buckles on her skirt. He breathed in once, deeply, then turned around with a pleasant look on his face and held the coffee out to her. She reached for it eagerly, then paused and raised an eyebrow at him. Her fingers twitched a little bit.

"Uh, sir? How—er, how much do I owe you?" Hei's brain did a double-take. Was this girl nervous? The girl with the giant gun was nervous?

_Focus, __Hei_.

"Standard coffee fair, just like on the sign." She handed the lien over and took a long, satisfied slurp of the overly sweet drink. Her eyes snapped open after a moment as though she'd just remembered where she was and her pale cheeks darkened to match her cloak.

"ThankyousirIgottagobye!" Hei almost didn't understand her as she disappeared out the door.

_Well that was…weird. I guess she doesn't like people very much. Might explain the _giant freaking gun _she carries around._

It never even occurred to him to wonder why a child would be buying such a bizarre drink in the middle of the night as he sat down and continued playing with the milk foam.

~O~

Hei stumbled into his apartment a few hours later. A dozen different things needed to be done, but the siren's song of his bed was too strong for him to resist. He barely got his Beanstalk uniform shirt off before he toppled lopsidedly onto the mattress. His head lolled to the side and he looked out the window at the full moon as sleep claimed him.

Then things started exploding.

Jolted awake for the second time that night, Hei sat straight up in his bed and looked out the window at the light show taking place on a lower building near his apartment. A VTOL Bullhead hovered over the roof while two figures, one red and the other a black-on-white, fired up at the craft. One of them must have been a Dust user, judging by the miniature storm and the ice spikes and the fire. Then the rooftop exploded and the two figures tumbled aside as the VTOL flew away, right over Hei's building. The figures on the rooftop stood, finally revealed in the bright moonlight.

_Wait, what._

That cloak, and that gun, and that wolf cut, were all from the coffee shop. But there was no way a little girl could wield that thing. He had seen it turn into a scythe twice her size, for goodness' sake. Granted, he'd seen Huntsmen wield some crazy weapons before, but this was a child, not a Huntress. There was an exchange of words, then the taller woman grabbed the girl by her cloak and dragged her into the roof access stairway. Then all was silent save for the approach of police sirens. Not wanting to deal with the noise, Hei closed the window and leaned against it.

_This has been such a weird night. What was I doing just now? Oh, right, sleeping. Sleep's nice. I should try that more often. This was probably the most interesting night shift I've ever had. I wonder if Jack will believe it. Maybe I just shouldn't tell him, might get people asking questions there'll be cops and what was I doing just now?_

_Focus, Hei._

* * *

><p><strong>AN**

It's a concept piece. Just an idea. A little one. Maybe I'll going to see what happens with it. Things it wouldn't be: a "novelization" of the RWBY story, a self-insert fic, a fix-fic, or a shipping fic. The main character, Hei, would only be tangentially involved in the RWBY story. A guy who works at the favored coffee shop of a certain school for Huntsmen, who is attending a university in Vale for something academic (haven't really decided what, yet). A normal person seeing the madness of team RWBY and friends from an outside view.

I don't know, maybe I'll write it, maybe not. We'll find out.


End file.
